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The Majestic
The Majestic is a 2001 American drama film directed and produced by Frank Darabont and starring Jim Carrey. Written by Michael Sloane, the film features a supporting cast of Bob Balaban, Brent Briscoe, Jeffrey DeMunn, Amanda Detmer, Allen Garfield, Hal Holbrook, Laurie Holden, Martin Landau, Ron Rifkin, David Ogden Stiers and James Whitmore. Filmed in Ferndale, California,3 it premiered on December 11, 2001, and was released in the United States on December 21, 2001. Jim Carrey's performance in The Majestic was a departure from his previous work, which until then had mostly been comedy films. Plot In 1951, Peter Appleton, an up-and-coming young screenwriter, is in a meeting of Hollywood executives who are dreaming up ways to radically change the plot of a movie he has written. Not long after, he learns that he has been accused of being a Communist because he attended an antiwar meeting in college years before, a meeting he claims he only attended to impress a girl. In an instant, his new film is pushed back for a few months, the credit is given to someone else, his movie star girlfriend leaves him, and his contract with the studio is dropped. Appleton gets drunk and accidentally drives his car off a bridge and into a river. He is knocked unconscious, wakes up on an ocean beach with amnesia, and finds himself in a small town called Lawson after being discovered by Stan Keller who takes him to the local doctor named Doc Stanton. The townsfolk believe him to be Luke Trimble, one of the town boys killed in World War II nine years before, who just happens to look exactly like Peter, and embrace him as a symbol of hope. "Luke" is at first mildly hesitant to embrace this life but he eventually settles in to "his old life", and with his "father" Harry and his "girlfriend" Adele Stanton, starts to restore The Majestic theater, an old movie house that had been closed because of hard times. Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., Congressional committee member Elvin Clyde is convinced that Appleton's disappearance is proof that he is a Communist. Clyde sends two federal agents to search for him. Back in Lawson, not everyone believes that "Luke" is back. A few days later, the town throws a welcome home party for "Luke" headed by Mayor Ernie Cole. The town then asks him to play the piano, but instead of playing one of the classics he was taught to play as a kid, he falls into a roadhouse boogie tune. On his way home, he runs into Bob Leffert, a one-handed veteran who knew the real Luke, did not like him, and is convinced that Peter is not Luke. Bob then punches him when Peter makes a remark about how the war must have damaged him more than is readily apparent. Peter, Harry, Adele, and the other staff members of The Majestic and the rest of the townsfolk work together to restore the theater to its former glory. Peter also convinces the town to finally display a memorial that President Franklin D. Roosevelt had commissioned after the war, but the town did not have the heart to erect. Peter recovers from his amnesia when The Majestic shows a movie he wrote called "Sand Pirates of the Sahara." At the same moment, Harry suffers a massive heart attack before the reel change, halting the movie. Doc tells Peter that Harry's condition is fatal and that he will die soon. At Harry's deathbed, Peter lets him die believing that he is really Harry's son. Immediately after Harry's funeral, Peter tells Adele that he has regained his memory and knows that he is not Luke. Adele admits that she suspected it. Before he can break the news to the other townspeople, however, federal agents Ellerby and Saunders confront him publicly. The federal agents present Peter with a summons to appear before Congress. That night, Peter talks with Emmett (the theater's usher), who tells Peter that he realized that Peter wasn't Luke the moment Emmett heard Peter "pounding out that fine roadhouse boogie" tune on the piano, which Luke could never learn to play. Emmett kept quiet, realizing that the town needed "Luke" to be the town's hope for the future. Peter's agent advises him to "admit" and then denounce his past associations with the Communist Party, and presents him with a list of named "Communists" that he could read before the committee to clear his name. Initially, Peter reluctantly agrees to this plan, but an argument with Adele and a letter he finds in a pocket-sized copy of The Constitution that was written as a sort of "goodbye letter" from the real Luke trying to explain to Adele that he knows he might die for a real cause, inspire Peter to instead confront the committee. At the hearing headed up by Congressman Doyle which is televised with the citizens of Lawson also watching, Peter makes an impassioned speech about American ideals, which wins the crowd over. Fearing a political backlash, the lawmakers let him go free. Peter then finds out that it was, in fact, the girl that he went to the college meeting with years before that named him to the committee. Soon after, Peter sits in with the same group of unseen studio executives that was heard at the film's opening, brainstorming changes to the plot of the same film yet again. Exasperated, Peter walks away from them, and his career, in disgust. Peter then returns to Lawson, fearing an unwelcome reception. Instead, he receives a hero's welcome from the town's citizens, who have come to respect Peter as an individual. The epilogue shows that Peter has resumed ownership and management of The Majestic. Still photos in the residence above the movie house reveal that Adele and Peter got married and had a son. Cast *Jim Carrey - Peter Appleton *Bob Balaban - Elvin Clyde *Brent Briscoe - Sheriff Cecil Coleman *Jeffrey DeMunn - Ernie Cole *Amanda Detmer - Sandra Sinclair *Allen Garfield - Leo Kubelsky *Hal Holbrook - Congressman Doyle *Laurie Holden - Adele Stanton *Martin Landau - Harry Trimble *Ron Rifkin - Kevin Bannerman *David Ogden Stiers - Doc Stanton *James Whitmore - Stan Keller *Gerry Black - Emmett Smith *Susan Willis - Irene Terwilliger *Catherine Dent - Mabel *Brian Howe - Carl Leffert / Head of the Studio *Karl Bury - Bob Leffert *Chelcie Ross - Avery Wyatt *Daniel von Bargen - Federal Agent Ellerby *Shawn Doyle - Federal Agent Saunders *Scotty Leavenworth - Joey *Bruce Campbell - Roland the Intrepid Explorer *Cliff Curtis - The Evil But Handsome Prince Khalid *Michael Sloane - Kindly Old Professor Meredith *Garry Marshall - Studio Executive #1 (voice) *Paul Mazursky - Studio Executive #2 (voice) *Sydney Pollack - Studio Executive #3 (voice) *Carl Reiner - Studio Executive #4 (voice) *Rob Reiner - Studio Executive #5 (voice) *Matt Damon - Luke Trimble (voice) Category:Films Category:2001 release Category:Jim Carrey films